


Totem

by resonae



Category: Inception (2010), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Inception Fusion, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-04-30 22:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5182352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/resonae/pseuds/resonae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoongi's the best Forger there is, and Forging the target's love interest isn't anything he hasn't done before.</p><p>Falling in love with the target, though, might be new. And if not that, going back every night into the target's dream just to be with him definitely is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So,” Taehyung says, popping a bubble gum in his face, “got a job for you if you’re interested.”

 

Yoongi snorts. “You know my criteria for jobs.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Taehyung grins and pops another bubble. “Pay’s great. Probably one of the highest you’ll get.” He blows and pops another one. Yoongi glares and Taehyung just grins before continuing, “The client is Chrono Electronics.”

 

Yoongi sits up straight on his chair. “What?” Chrono Electronics is quite possibly the biggest company in all of Korea. He rubs his fingers together and slides his ring off his index fingers, carefully rolling it between his fingers. “What the fuck does Chrono want? And what’s the pay?”

 

Taehyung grins and tosses a file his way. Yoongi opens it and frowns at the photo. Taehyung snickers. “Kim Seokjin, age 23. He’s pretty much your everyday café barista. Nothing really special about him talentwise. His coffee is decently good, but not amazing. But he’s pretty to a fault.”

 

“Your type,” Yoongi notes drily.

 

“My type exactly,” Taehyung snickers, “Pretty to a fault, and, perhaps his biggest flaw – completely trusting. Totally naïve. You could give him a 100 won coin and if you told him it was pure silver, he’d believe it. But you know, lots of those in the world. The thing different about this pretty baby is that Chrono’s top R&D head had the biggest crush on him. Would go into the café every fucking day just to talk to him for hours.”

 

“The R&D head? Jin Hyosang? The one who was killed a week ago?”

 

Taehyung winks. “Suicide, they say.”

 

“Biggest load of bullshit. I see where this is going.” Yoongi picks up the file and examines the photos in there. “Jin Hyosang gave him something.”

 

“Sort of. He’s been withholding some of his research from Chrono, so they were pretty much after his throat. He thought it’d keep him alive but not so much. He gave it to Kim Seokjin, realized it could pretty much mean Kim Seokjin’s death, and took it back, and then immediately burned it and tried to go into hiding. We both know that wasn’t so successful. But Kim Seokjin read the files. Not because he was trying to snoop around, but because Jin Hyosang told him to look at it. I think he wanted it as a backup so he could go into Kim Seokjin’s head and retrieve it if he ever needed to. Better have two people trying to remember it than one person. Chrono wants everything Kim Seokjin remembers.”

 

“It shouldn’t be difficult. He’s a _barista._ ”

 

Taehyung snickers. “Sadly, not that simple. His mind is militarized. He had an older brother. Kim Woojin.”

 

Yoongi’s eyes hone in on the name on the paper. “The extractor?”

 

“Yeap. The one that died during that Brazil job. He realized that literally anyone was open to getting things stolen from their heads and militarized his brother’s subconscious. And hey, Kim Woojin was the best.”

 

Yoongi thumbs the name on the family relations. “Not too good if he died.”

 

Taehyung snickers and tosses him another file. “He was one of the best, and you know it. Actually, you aren't the first guy Chrono came to. They tried to extract from Kim Seokjin before Jin Hyosang died, and that ended up in a right mess. Kim Seokjin's militarized subconscious killed everyone within minutes. They tried a couple of times, even tried multiple levels of consciousness - nope. Which is why Chrono came to you. The second file is Kim Namjoon. Best friends since they were little, and also Kim Seokjin’s love interest. You should see him when he’s around Kim Namjoon. He’s like an overgrown puppy. Sad for him Kim Namjoon's got no interest in him, and also sadder than Kim Namjoon's about as thick as a brick. But all the same, you need to Forge him. That shouldn't trigger his subconscious to militarize." Taehyung grins and tosses him another file. "There's the 10% of the check, straight up. Rest of it comes when you've got the information."

 

Yoongi's used to big checks, and his eyes still widen at the amount. He grins and slides the check into the file with Kim Seokjin's smiling face. "A big check for an easy job, isn't it? They want the information that badly?  


Taehyung grins. "I'm just the messenger, hyung. Four teams failed before you did. This isn't going to be just a stroll through the park."

  
\--

 

Yoongi spends the next few days at the café Seokjin works in. It's a popular chain and no one really takes notice of the guy who comes in with his laptop and spends a few hours each day – there are way too many of them that do it. He watches Kim Seokjin and the way his eyes light up into sincere smiles whenever Kim Namjoon walk into the cafe. Kim Namjoon doesn't eat much, but Yoongi can see why Kim Seokjin's fallen for him.

 

“You sure Kim Namjoon isn’t in love with Kim Seokjin?”

 

[Yeah, I had doubts too when I was gathering information, but he doesn’t. He cares about Kim Seokjin a lot. They’ve known each other for a long, long time, but Kim Namjoon’s got a fiancée.]

 

“Doesn’t mean anything.” Yoongi shrugs, even though he knows Taehyung can’t see anything.

 

[Trust me, Yoongi. He doesn’t love Kim Seokjin the way Kim Seokjin does. That’s the reason why Kim Seokjin hasn’t done anything. But it doesn’t matter, does it?]

 

“This is why you can’t Forge.” Yoongi snorts. “Every detail matters.”

 

Yoongi memorizes all of it. The way Kim Namjoon look at Kim Seokjin, the way he cups the other’s elbow lightly when he wants Kim Seokjin’s attention, the way his eyes warm and his voice gentles when he’s with Kim Seokjin, or the way his face lights up in Kim Seokjin’s company. Yoongi’s not buying the he’s-not-in-love-with-Kim-Seokjin thing, but that’s just a detail in his Forge.

 

He takes about a week and a half to fully memorize all of Kim Namjoon, and he’s got it perfect. His architect is, of course, Taehyung. Kim Seokjin’s lying on his bed, sleeping peacefully although Yoongi knows that’s induced from Somnacin. “He’s pretty,” Taehyung whistles. “Really pretty.”

 

Yoongi nods. Kim Seokjin _is_ pretty, especially when he’s asleep and completely worry-free. He’s got his hair dyed a dark shade of wine that almost sparkles when the moonlight hits it just right, and Yoongi finds himself staring. He shakes his head physically and takes the IV line from the PASIV, sliding it into his vein. He glances at Taehyung. “Wanna run down the plan?”

 

Taehyung grins. “Easy enough. This is gonna be a multi-day job. We spend an hour or two in Kim Seokjin's dream, which, which this Somnacin mix, is gonna give us about 3-4 hours in there. We come back tomorrow, repeat. Convince him slowly, while I wander outside and make sure the real Kim Namjoon doesn't get near you two. Dream-real Kim Namjoon. Whatever. The Kim Namjoon that you're not going to be.” Taehyun offers him a toothy grin and Yoongi sighs. He'd be worried if he didn't know Taehyung was incredibly adept at this.

 

"Ready, then?"

 

"You think Dream-real Kim Namjoon is gonna prefer being shot through the head or being shot through the heart?"

 

"I'm gonna assume that's a yes." Yoongi leans back and presses the infusion trigger.

 

\--

 

Seokjin’s dream – or the setting that Taehyung dreams up for Seokjin’s dream – is Seokjin’s own house, and Yoongi finds himself in the bathroom. “Namjoon,” Seokjin calls, from somewhere in the kitchen, “lunch is just about ready. Go wash up.”

 

Yoongi checks in the mirror – he’s Kim Namjoon, right down to the silver-dyed hair, slightly tanned skin, and the large hands. He's a lot taller in this body, and he heads out of the bathroom and wanders into the kitchen. Noodles – the kind that Kim Namjoon likes. "Hey," he smiles, fitting the warm smile onto his face. Kim Seokjin beams at him. The smile makes Yoongi's heart warm. "Smells good."

 

Forging's like second nature to him, but something about this Forge just feels weird. It might be the way Seokjin's smile is so sincere when they talk and Yoongi eats (even in the dream it tastes pretty good), or maybe the way he can feel the pulse on Seokjin's wrist when Yoongi takes Seokjin's hand to scroll his thumbs down the back of Seokjin's hand, just the way Kim Namjoon does when they're talking.

 

The dreamer never knows when they're dreaming. It's Yoongi's job to convince Seokjin that they're dating, at least in _this_ reality. It's going to be a bit risky at first but they're in the safety of Seokjin's apartment, and Taehyung's probably hiding somewhere to find Kim Namjoon's projection in this dream world. As long as he can naturally convince Seokjin that they're dating and this is reality, Seokjin won't figure it out until he wakes up in the morning.

 

Yoongi carefully threads his fingers through Seokjin's. As far as he can tell, Kim Namjoon has yet to do this to Seokjin. He's always fondling Seokjin's hands but he never actually _holds_ Seokjin's hand. He can feel Seokjin's pause. Yoongi looks up at Seokjin. "I'm listening. Keep talking."

 

Seokjin looks confused. "No, I-" He stops, frowns, and looks down at their hand. He doesn't say anything else about it, but Yoongi takes the chance.

 

"You worried your hands smell like onion or something? I told you I don't care. I'll deal with onion-smelling hands."

 

Seokjin blinks. "You told me this before?"

 

Yoongi laughs. "You forgot? Remember you made me that chicken thing last time and you wouldn't let me hold your hand because your hands smelled like onion?" He brings Seokjin's hand up to his nose. Seokjin's hands smell faintly of roses and he wonders if that's a dream-only thing. He presses his – Kim Namjoon's – lips against Seokjin's knuckles, pressing soft kisses onto each and every one of them. Seokjin doesn't pull back. "Hey, where's your ring?"

 

"My ring?" Seokjin echoes, looking lost. "What are you talking about? Namjoon, what are you doing? What about Gayoon?"

 

"Gayoon?" Yoongi feigns, blinking slowly. "Who's Gayoon?"

 

"Who's _Gayoon_? Your fiancé???"

 

Yoongi laughs, and by this point he's such a natural at Forging that it comes easily. "Seokjin, _you're_ my fiancé. What are you talking about? Are you trying to be funny? Oh, you didn't lose your ring, did you? Is that why? I bet I can find it."

 

Seokjin freezes, blinking slowly, and Yoongi pretends not to notice as he gets up and goes to the kitchen. He knows the ring, identical to the one on his own finger, has appeared on the kitchen counter. He brings it back to a Seokjin who still looks like he doesn't quite know what to think, and shows it to him. "You left it on the kitchen counter again."

 

Seokjin repeats, "Again." He takes the ring that Yoongi offers him and his eyes slide to Yoongi's own left hand, where an identical ring is glistening on his ring finger. "We're engaged."

 

"Seokjin, what's wrong?" Yoongi pulls Kim Namjoon's concerned voice perfectly as he slides into the chair next to Seokjin, sliding his palm under Seokjin's dark-wine bangs to feel his forehead. "You don't have a fever or anything. Are you feeling sick? Why are you being so weird?"

 

"I'm-" Seokjin shakes his head. "Namjoon, you aren't playing with me, are you?" There's a hint of desperation and Yoongi smirks inwardly. He knew Kim Seokjin would bite the bait easily, but he didn't think it'd be _this_ fast.

 

Yoongi smiles gently at Seokjin, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "You had a bad dream or something last night? Why would I be playing with you?"

 

Seokjin searches Yoongi's eyes, looking, probably, for a hint that Yoongi is lying. Which Yoongi is, but Yoongi's too good of a Forger for this. He finds nothing but sincere warmth in Yoongi's eyes and Yoongi can feel Seokjin relax under his hands. "Right. I just.. I don't know." He slumps and smiles up at Yoongi. "I don't know what I was thinking. Do you want anything else?" He squeezes Yoongi's hand as he gets up and gathers their now-empty bowls. He pulls the ring back onto his finger, and his gaze linger for a moment on it before he shakes his head and lets his hand drop.

 

"I want you," Yoongi says, and watches Seokjin's ears flare up.

 

"Don't be a cheeseball, Namjoon," Seokjin rolls his eyes.

 

"You like it." Seokjin doesn't deny it and Yoongi laughs, standing to pull his arms around Seokjin's waist. Seokjin fits perfectly in his arms, even with his broad shoulders.

 

Yoongi presses his lips on Seokjin's neck, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses down the smooth skin of his nape and his shoulder. "Who's Gayoon, anyway?"

 

He feels Seokjin shudder under his hands. "No one. I dreamed the name up."

 

"You'll tell me if something's wrong, won't you?"

 

"Namjoon," Seokjin says, turning around in Yoongi's arms. It's weird to have someone as tall as Seokjin look up at him. "I love you. You know that."

 

Yoongi's chest clenches at the soft words, but he doesn’t show Iit. He smiles back and presses his lips against Seokjin's forehead. "I love you, too. You know that."

 

\--

 

"Success? Were you super cruel? Did you make him totally believe you?" Taehyung grins when Yoongi slides the IV out of his arm and then Kim Seokjin's. He'll dream something else until he wakes up tomorrow morning, but only remember the Sonmacin-induced one.

 

"I made him believe me." Yoongi snorts. "He's not stupid. When he wakes up he'll realize it's a dream."

 

"Feel bad for him, though." Taehyung clicks his tongue, standing over Kim Seokjin's sleeping form. Yoongi knows the drugs are going to stay in his system to make sure Kim Seokjin will stay deeply asleep until about an hour after they've left, but he still hisses Taehyung to be careful. "Man, he's so pretty. If he wasn't a target I'd totally go for him. How heartbroken do you think he'll be when he wakes up and realizes it was all a dream?"

 

Yoongi rolls his eyes. "He's not gonna be heartbroken. I'm sure he's had dreams like this before. He'll shake it off and go on his day."

 

"He's a bit of a romantic, though. You should get him flowers in tomorrow's dream."

 

"I don't even know how those things relate to what I said."

 

\--

 

Yoongi drops by Seokjin's café during the day afterward. Seokjin doesn't look any different, and Yoongi hasn't expected it after just one dream. He treats Kim Namjoon the same way as always and Yoongi snorts at the way Kim Namjoon plays with Seokjin's hand when they talk. Seokjin doesn't flinch or pull back the way Yoongi expects him to later on.

 

It's probably cruel, like Taehyung's said. Yoongi sips his not-bad-but-also-not-great coffee and leans back on his chair, eyeing Seokjin. There's no change yet. But there be will be, soon enough, and Yoongi knows that's when he can make the extraction.

 

\--

 

They return again that night, and this time Yoongi finds himself at Seokjin's cafe. He remembers what Taehyung said the night before and figures why the hell not. He creates a bouquet of roses, mixed red and white and pink. They smell like Seokjin’s hand from the night before and Yoongi snorts. Right. He pushes the door to the café open and Seokjin looks up in greeting, and his face breaks into a bright smile when he sees who it is. “Not too busy today, huh?”

 

“Yeah.” Seokjin glances at the bouquet of roses. “Are they for me?”

 

“Are you my fiancé?” Yoongi grins. He sees the uncertainty in Seokjin’s eyes – no doubt because of the reality earlier in the day. But he sees the way Seokjin rolls the engagement ring that’s appeared to him in the dream. But his question makes Seokjin smile and Yoongi hands over the flowers to Seokjin. Seokjin smells them with a pleased sigh and carefully places them on the counter. Seokjin starts humming as he makes a cup – just plain coffee, black, the way Kim Namjoon drinks it every time. Yoongi’s thankful they at least have the same taste in coffee. “How do you know I want this, hmm?”

 

It’s standard banter, the kind that Kim Namjoon makes with Seokjin all the time, and Seokjin rolls his eyes. It’s pretty uneventful as dreams go, and Yoongi feels almost uneasy at how peaceful it is. Usually he’s shooting and trying to sneak around, not drinking coffee as his target cracks lame jokes at him and smile at him like he means the world.

 

He probably _does_ mean the world, Yoongi thinks, watching Seokjin serve dream customers. None of them are paying any attention to him, which means Taehyung isn’t causing any trouble, and the Namjoon-projection hasn’t walked into the café either, which means good things. Everything is going well, and Yoongi shrugs. He’s not going to question a job going well.


	2. Chapter 2

Yoongi’s totem is his ring. It’s weighted in a way only exactly he knows, balanced just so right in a ratio committed to his memory. In dreams it’s a normal ring, rounded perfectly without any imperfections. But in reality it’s weighted, weight distributed just the way Yoongi knows. When spun, it lands on one spot each and every time.

 

It’s also the ring Yoongi chose to make as their ‘engagement’ ring. It doesn’t really matter in the end. Seokjin sometimes plays with his ring in the dream, cuddled together on their couch, and Yoongi lets him hold it because there’s no harm in it inside the dream.

“It’s not like you,” Seokjin laughs quietly. He has his head rested against Yoongi’s shoulder, Yoongi’s arm wrapped snugly around his waist. “Plain and functional. You like your accessories all flashy.”

 

Yoongi shrugs. “You said you wanted something plain, not too flashy. You didn’t want it getting in the way of your work.”

 

Seokjin looks up at him, and he’s positively beaming. “You remembered.”

 

Yoongi snorts and squeezes his waist, fingers tickling Seokjin and making him giggle and squirm a bit. “Of course I remembered. It’s _you_.” Seokjin giggles at the answer and tucks himself in closer to Yoongi. Yoongi traces his fingers along Seokjin’s smooth skin, letting his colder hands seep the warmth from Seokjin’s side. Seokjin just rests his head on Yoongi’s shoulder, sighing happily. Yoongi stares out into the windows. The day’s nice outside. “Are you happy, Seokjin?”

 

“Yeah.” Seokjin smiles, and Yoongi takes up Seokjin’s hand, carefully threading his fingers through all of Seokjin’s before pressing his lips to every knuckle. Seokjin smiles and sighs happily. He chatters, about where he wants to go on vacations. He talks about seeing all over the globe but goes on mostly about France and how much he wants to go, but before long he’s fallen asleep.

 

Yoongi enjoys the quiet silence and lets the warmth of the moment wash over him. “Whoa, whoa.” Yoongi looks up to find Taehyung sitting on the balcony ledge. “I don’t like that look.”

 

He scowls at the architect. “What look?”

 

Taehyung gives him a look. “The look you’re giving him like he’s the most precious thing in the world? Like you’re head over heels in love with him which I _know_ isn’t the case, Yoongi. He’s the target. The mark. We extract from him and that’s it. We don’t see him again.”

 

Yoongi scowls at him. “Don’t be stupid. I’m not in love with him; I’m staying in character.” He narrows his eyes at Taehyung’s unbelieving gaze. “This is why I’m the better Forger.”

 

Taehyung doesn’t look convinced, but Yoongi closes his eyes and ignores whatever else Taehyung has to say. He knows Taehyung’s right. He runs his fingers through Seokjin's hair, tracing smooth bones of his cheek and jaw. Taehyung's glaring at him when he opens his eyes. "Yoongi."

 

"Once I get the information from him... Will they kill him?"

 

Taehyung's face twists. "Yoongi."

 

"Answer me."

 

Taehyung sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I don't know their plans, but it's fucking likely, don't you think? He's got private information. Technically, from Chrono's point of view, anyone can go into his head and get information that should rightly only be theirs. I figure the only reason he's not dead is because he's the only one that _has_ the information. Yoongi, you can't be thinking of can't be thinking of trying to save him. That's going to cost him your life." Taehyung opened his mouth to say more, but Seokjin stirred and Taehyung was gone in the next second.

 

"Namjoon?" Seokjin mumbles, voice still heavy with sleep. Yoongi takes his hand and links their fingers together before squeezing lightly, gnawing at the insides of his cheeks. He needed a failsafe. Something that would keep Chrono from targeting Seokjin before they got to him.

 

\--

 

Yoongi is situated in his corner of the café like always, carefully watching Seokjin from beyond his coffee mug. Seokjin looks uncertain and a corner of Yoongi's mind nags _you did that_ , but he ignores it. His eyes follow Kim Namjoon as he talks, quietly and with his usual warm smile he reserves just for Seokjin. At a point, Namjoon reaches for Seokjin's hand, and Seokjin flinches away, pulling his hand back.

 

Namjoon looks confused and Seokjin shakes his head, rushing away to the farthest coffee brewer. Yoongi hides his smirk behind a sip of dark coffee.

 

It's time.

 

\--

 

"Last day." Yoongi tells Taehyung, who perks up at that. "I should be able to get it out of him today. And then we can forget this job ever happened."

 

Taehyung eyes him. "You're serious, right? You know, out of everyone in the business, I'd like to consider you someone I can trust the most. I'd hate to see you get killed. Who'm I going to work with?"

 

Yoongi glances at Seokjin, sleeping soundly under the influence of Somnacin. "..Yeah. We can put this job behind us after this." He slides the IV into his arm and watches Taehyung do the same before punching the infusion trigger.

 

Yoongi finds himself at Seokjin's counter, a cup of steaming black coffee in front of him. The Forge is almost natural now, and he's used to seeing darker skin and longer limbs. "Hey," Seokjin calls, drying his hair as he comes out of the shower. "You're still not done with that coffee?"

 

"That was a pretty fast shower," Yoongi grins, circling the rim of the coffee mug. "What prompted you to take a shower in the middle of the day, anyway?"

 

Seokjin sighs and carefully dries his hair. "I don't know. Something just felt off, I guess." Yoongi doesn't miss the soft sigh. "I thought a hot shower might fix things."

 

Yoongi gets off and he can hear the worry in his own voice. "What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?" He raises his hand – his left – to cup Seokjin's cheek, and doesn't miss the way Seokjin's eyes land on the ring on his finger. Seokjin sighs and presses his cheek against Yoongi's hand. Seokjin's skin feels soft under his fingers.

 

"No, nothing." Seokjin smiles and pulls away, playing cautiously with the ring around his finger. "Want something to eat?"

 

"Sure, I guess." Yoongi shouldn't feel bad. This is a job, like Taehyung's said so many times, and this is what he was aiming to do, after all. Have Seokjin depend more on the dream version of Kim Namjoon than the actual version. He pushes the guilt away and sits on the counter once again. "Hey, remember that guy that always was around at the café?"

 

"Hmm?" Seokjin's busy slicing onions. "Who? I get a lot of regulars."

 

"You know. That nerdy looking guy that I didn't like. The one that’s _obviously_ in love with you."

 

"Oh, you mean Hyosang." Seokjin turns to face him as he pushes onions into the frying pan. "I haven't seen him in a while. The last time I saw him was… a week ago? I think?” Seokjin turns back to chop carrots. “He gave me this file and told me to read it but I couldn’t make any sense of it.”

 

Yoongi nods and sips his mug. “Right. What was on it?”

 

“Oh. I have no idea. Wanna see it?” Seokjin looks up from stirring the vegetables. “I have it somewhere. Maybe you can make more sense of it than I can; you’re smarter than I am.”

 

Yoongi nods, grinning and taking a sip of his coffee to hide it. Even if Kim Woojin had militarized this mind, Seokjin is still a regular person. Not a corporate head or a mobster who had reasons to hide things. Yoongi gets up to follow Seokjin to the bedroom. Seokjin doesn’t even have a safe in his conscious – the files are merely in the bottom drawer of his cabinet. “It’s these.”

 

Yoongi takes the files from Seokjin and carefully reads over them. It’s nothing he understands, but it doesn’t matter. Seokjin has actually studied the files pretty hard, it turns out – almost nothing in the files are blurry. He twirls the ring around his finger while he reads, but frowns. “Seokjin, what’s wrong?”

 

He looks up and Seokjin starts noticeably. “You realized I was looking?”

 

Yoongi rolls his eyes. “Yeah, you were staring at me pretty intensely. What’s wrong?”

 

Seokjin says nothing for a while. The dish Seokjin was making lies forgotten in the dream, disappearing slowly until Seokjin completely forgets. Yoongi knows food is pretty high up on the priority list for Kim Seokjin. Food disappearing can’t be a good sign. He puts the files down and frowns, reaching to carefully wrap his hands around Seokjin’s. He links their fingers together and rubs his thumbs over Seokjin’s knuckles. Seokjin watches as Yoongi carefully rolls his thumb across their ring. “Namjoon, you… love me, right?”

 

Yoongi grips Seokjin’s hand tightly. “Seokjin, what’s wrong? You know I do. We’re engaged. You know I wouldn’t ask someone I don’t care about to marry me.”

 

Seokjin eyes their ring and shudders. “Right. I know. Right.” He squeezes Yoongi’s hands, a little desperately. “I love you, Namjoon.”

 

Yoongi’s heart clenches, and he surprises himself with how sincere he is when he squeezes Seokjin’s hands and leans in for a kiss, whispering, “I love you, Seokjin.”

 

\--

 

“You kissed him!” Taehyung accuses in a hiss, when they’re out of the dream and yanking IV tubes out of their arms. “Fuck, Yoongi, you _know_ that’s – what the fuck are you going to do?”

 

“Whatever,” Yoongi hisses. “I was Kim Namjoon to him. It doesn’t matter. I need to get this information to Chrono, take the pay, and get the fuck out of here or something.”

 

Taehyung glares at him but says nothing. “You got it?”

 

“I got everything he had. He didn’t have much.” Yoongi shrugs. “He looked over it once.”

 

Taehyung snorts. “Figures. I don’t know what Chrono expected from a bartender. You wanna go see Chrono right now?”

 

Yoongi nods and glances at Seokjin. Seokjin’s best weapon, perhaps, is that everyone underestimates him.

 

\--

 

“This is everything?” The man in a suit says, frowning over the paper.

 

“You expected more?” Yoongi snorts. “He’s a bartender, not a scientist. He probably looked over it once and forgot about it. It’s a miracle he remembers even this much.” He puts his pen down and glances at the paper he filled out. It’s patchy, and nowhere near half of what Seokjin remembers. Yoongi’s left out what he hopes is important enough for them to reconsider killing Seokjin.

 

“Do you think it might be in his subconscious somewhere?” The man asks, looking over the paper. He doesn’t look like he’s disappointed at the results – he’d probably expected nothing of Seokjin.

 

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “Possible, if we go in deep enough. But we aren’t saying anymore. This usually costs a consulting fee.”

 

“Right.” The man nods and pulls out his laptop and starts typing away. “We have wired money into your accounts as consulting fees. Please have a seat.”

 

Yoongi glances at his phone – he _does_ have a notification from his secure account on top of the original pay for the job. Taehyung whistles. “You aren’t joking around with this, are you? What do you want to know?”

 

“Is it possible?”

 

“Not with just the two of us. You need a full team. An extractor, an architect, a forger, a point man, and a chemist.” Yoongi shrugs. “You’ve got two here. _Maybe_ three, since either of us can extract. That still leaves you very short of a point man and a chemist. You need a good chemist if you’re going to go that deep into his subconscious. And a good point man to delve into every detail of the mission.”

 

The man nods and starts typing furiously. Yoongi doesn’t like not seeing what the man can type, but he ignores it. “Someone like Cobb.”

 

Taehyung snorts. “The extractor, yeah. Someone like Cobb and his point man Arthur. Best in the business. You’ve got a forger and an architect here. You just need a good chemist. And even then, it’s not a guarantee that it’s actually down there. He needs to have read it enough and processed it enough for the document to have gone into his long term memory from his short term. Not to mention you’re going to have to deal with his militarized mind. I’m sure you’re aware of how many failures you’ve had.”

 

The man nods, makes notes, and thanks them curtly for the business. Yoongi‘s half expecting to have to fight their way out but nothing happens. “You lied.” Taehyung says simply, once they’re at Yoongi’s rented apartment. “He actually had a lot of it, didn’t he? You were trying to keep him alive by withholding information he had and making Chrono believe they could get it.”

 

“I’m not getting caught up in whatever they do next. I’m disappearing. So should you.” Yoongi glances over at Taehyung, who just rolls his eyes and shakes his head in exasperation. Taehyung’s gone by the time he turns around again, and Yoongi can’t quite care. He’s got his own business to attend to. All of his important documents are in a secure locker in Switzerland and this apartment is just one of his many properties – all under different names – around the globe.

 

He glances over at the map hanging on the wall. France, perhaps. He remembers Seokjin’s face animating as he talked about it, about how much he wanted to go see the city. His eyes catch on the ring that sits heavily on his ring finger and he grits his teeth. Seokjin.

 

\--

 

He doesn’t leave Seoul like he originally planned to. It’s dangerous, he knows, and pretty reckless, but he can’t help it. He can’t leave Seokjin, not when Chrono might decide he’s not worth the effort. He doesn’t exactly hang out at Seokjin’s café anymore – just hang out around the shadows, quietly watching Seokjin’s café from the building across the street.

 

Seokjin looks exhausted, and he shies away from Namjoon, who looks like he’s going to die from worry. Yoongi takes camp in the building where he can keep an eye on Seokjin. He lasts about a week before he finds himself in Seokjin’s apartment with a PASIV. It’s against his morals, all of the little he has left, but he misses the way Seokjin smiles. He misses the way Seokjin’s eyes brighten when he holds Seokjin’s hand. He misses the way Seokjin’s skin feels under his thumb. He misses the way Seokjin squeezes his hand when he laughs.

 

He doesn’t care of Seokjin acts like that to him because he’s Kim Namjoon in the dreams. He doesn’t care if it’s unhealthy. He’s in the dream business. Everything he does is immoral and unhealthy.

 

He slides the PASIV into his arm and punches the trigger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sex, and what could be considered as dubious consent. Seokjin gives consent to Yoongi when Yoongi's forging Namjoon.

He finds himself in the park, which is a slight problem because he might run into the actual projection of Kim Namjoon. He figures he’s not on a job anyway so it won’t matter, but still. He’d rather not die. He finds Seokjin sitting on a bench and sits next to him. “Hey.”

 

“Hey.” Seokjin greets. There’s no ring on his finger, but Seokjin’s eyes land on the ring on Yoongi’s finger. He doesn’t say anything about it. They sit quietly for a while, watching Seokjin’s projections play in the park. They’re just sitting next to each other but it’s the least lonely Yoongi’s been in ages. “I miss you,” Seokjin blurts all of a sudden.

 

Yoongi almost replies back, _Me too_ , but composes himself and says instead, “You see me every day.”

 

“I know. I _know_ , but..” Seokjin sounds broken, and Yoongi finds himself wincing inside. “I wish you weren’t marrying her. I know you love her a lot, but I just – you were mine first.” The last sentence sounds almost desperate, and Yoongi winces. “Sorry. I know it’s not what you want to hear.”

 

Yoongi sighs and wraps his arms around Seokjin’s shoulders. Seokjin’s surprisingly broad, but Namjoon’s body is pretty big. He squeezes Seokjin to him, fingers rubbing what he hopes are soothing circles into Seokjin’s arm. “I love you, you know.”

 

“I know.” Seokjin sniffles. “But it’s different, and you do care about her a lot and – I wouldn’t have it any other way, really. Just… Just sometimes.”

 

Yoongi doesn’t know what to quite say. He gulps thickly and whispers, “I’m sorry.”

 

They just sit in silence in the park watching Seokjin’s projections. Seokjin sniffles occasionally but says nothing else. Yoongi takes Seokjin’s hand and tugs him closer, and Seokjin doesn’t push him away when their lips meet. He slides one hand behind Seokjin’s head, working his fingers through Seokjin’s hair, and brings them closer. He thumbs across Seokjin’s cheekbone with his other hand, wiping the tears on that cheek away. The kiss isn’t chaste, but it’s not desperate and raw either. It tastes salty with Seokjin’s tears spilling over his lips, and Yoongi sighs and pulls back just a little so only their foreheads are touching. He takes Seokjin’s hands into his lap and carefully pulls his ring off to slide onto Seokjin’s fingers. Seokjin’s hands are smaller than his – Kim Namjoon’s – and the ring is a little loose, but Seokjin hugs it to his chest and starts sobbing harder. “I love you, Seokjin,” Yoongi whispers, and Seokjin just holds his hands to his chest.

 

Yoongi returns to Seokjin every night after that. They don’t do much except sit and hold each other. Sometimes they’re at the café with no one else around, and Seokjin makes him coffee. Sometimes they’re at the park and Yoongi brings breadcrumbs (or rather, he dreams them up, but Seokjin doesn’t need to know that) so they can feed the ducks. Sometimes they’re back at Seokjin’s apartment and Seokjin cooks. Sometimes, they walk down a road Yoongi doesn’t recognize but apparently Seokjin knows very well, Seokjin’s hand held tightly in Yoongi’s.

 

It goes on for weeks until Yoongi’s jerked out of his sleep. He looks up, fearing the worst and ready to defend himself, but it’s Taehyung looking down at him. “I knew you’d be here.”

 

Taehyung doesn’t look disappointed or angry. Yoongi sighs at the tilted chair and slides the IV line out of his arm. “Why are you here, Taehyung?”

 

Taehyung watches Yoongi carefully slide the IV out of Seokjin’s arm. “I thought you said you weren’t in love with him.” Yoongi doesn’t answer. He just shrugs and watches Seokjin sleep for a bit, stroking his thumb over the way his brows are creased. No doubt he’s confused, as Kim Namjoon has disappeared in front of his eyes in his dream. “Min Yoongi.”

 

“What do you want.” Yoongi sighs. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I know what I’m doing is fucked up.”

 

“I’m not saying anything.” Taehyung shrugs. “I know you know. Anyway, I had to wake you up. Chronos’ men are gonna be here anytime now.” Yoongi looks up sharply. “Don’t worry. They’re not here to kill him. They’re here to attempt at another extraction. That IV line isn’t going to heal immediately, but Chronos sent idiots who’re too dumb to notice it.” He watches Yoongi pack up the PASIV and hesitate when his eyes land on Seokjin sleeping. “They’re not going to kill him,” he repeats.

 

Yoongi nods and he and Taehyung are out, back in Yoongi’s little nondescript apartment across the street. “Why did you come find me?”

 

“Because I figured you’d be doing something dumb,” Taehyung shrugs. “It’s usually _my_ job to be doing dumb things. And you’re not supposed to make attachments on this job, but hey, you’re my favorite.” Taehyung shoves his hands in his pockets. “You know, this is pretty creepy, right?”

 

“I’m not spying on him,” Yoongi snaps. “I’m making sure the fucking Chronos goons don’t come kill him.” Taehyung makes a noise in the back of his throat like he doesn’t believe a thing Yoongi’s saying. Yoongi doesn’t care about correcting him. He leans at his window – he doesn’t have a spy glass or anything, and he can see enough from where he is because Seokjin doesn’t bother closing the blinds.

 

It takes exactly 3 minutes and 13 seconds until the first man is jerked awake, and 7 minutes and 34 until all of them are killed out of Seokjin’s dream. Taehyung whispers appreciatively. “That’s some good militarization.”

 

Yoongi nods and he flinches when he sees a Chronos extractor pull out a gun to Seokjin’s head. His hands tighten around the sniper rifle he’s already got set up, but Taehyung stops him. Another Chronos man is yelling at the extractor, and Yoongi relaxes a little. The goal isn’t to kill Seokjin – the goal is to extract the information. He waits a few more tense minutes until Chronos cleans up and leaves. Taehyung whistles. “This won’t last, you know. At one point they’re just going to decide he just isn’t worth it.”

 

“Yeah.” Yoongi shrugs. “I needed to protect him until I could get him out of here.”

 

“And you think you can. Yoongi, you realize he doesn’t actually know you yet, right? You’re going to have to actually meet him in real life.” Taehyung bit down on the candy he’d popped into his mouth. The pieces crunched in the silence of Yoongi’s apartment. “Stop digging your hole deeper.”

 

Yoongi sighs glances back through the window. Seokjin’s still asleep, blissfully unaware of everything that’d happened through the night.

 

\--

 

The night after, he visits Seokjin again, and they watch as skilled extractors are forced out of Seokjin’s dream over and over again. He’s got his arm wrapped around Seokjin and they’re watching TV (Yoongi recognizes it as a re-run of a ‘1 Night 2 Days’ episode). Seokjin looks distracted, but avoids answering when Yoongi tries to ask. But to be honest, Yoongi’s not trying. He knows Seokjin’ll open up when he wants to.

 

True enough, once the show ends, Seokjin stares at the commercials for a while before mumbling, “I saw Woojin yesterday in my dream.”

 

Yoongi flinches. “Woojin..?”

 

“Yeah. That’s how I knew it was a dream. Since. Well.” Seokjin’s voice trembles. Yoongi knows the two brothers were close, and Woojin kept Seokjin as safe as he could while he was alive. “I was a little kid. Maybe 5 or 6. He told me to go hide in the closet and count to 30. And that by the time I was done, everything would be over. I was terrified and he had to push me into the closet. I tried to block my ears but they were fighting. I counted to thirty and when I tried to listen, I couldn’t hear anything anymore so I came out. No one was there. Not even Woojin. I tried looking for Woojin and then I tried looking for you, but no one was there.”

 

Seokjin’s trembling a little in his arms, so Yoongi tugs Seokjin closer and presses his lips to Seokjin’s forehead. “It was just a dream.”

 

“I know, but. I was so scared.” Seokjin turns a little to bury his face in the crook of Yoongi’s neck and Yoongi holds him closer before ducking down to press his lips against Seokjin’s. He pushes Seokjin back until his back hits the arm of the sofa, and he finds his hands sliding below Seokjin’s shirt.

 

Seokjin’s skin is softer than he could have imagined. Seokjin’s thin, but his stomach is soft under Yoongi’s hands. Yoongi brushes his hands on Seokjin’s sides and Seokjin twists a little, so he can’t help but smile against their kiss. “Stop,” Seokjin pouts. “You know I’m ticklish.”

 

Yoongi chuckles. “Just a little.” He mouths at Seokjin’s jaw. “This is okay?” It’s half a question.

 

Seokjin nods against his mouth and Yoongi pushes down the bubbling though of _you’re not who he thinks you are_ and instead focuses on sucking bruises into Seokjin’s collarbone and bringing his hand up higher. Seokjin’s breath hitches when Yoongi’s fingers brush against a hardened nub, and Yoongi carefully takes it to roll gently between his fingers. Seokjin’s not _virgin_ , by any means, but his long-time pining after Kim Namjoon means he hasn’t had much in a while. Yoongi wonders if that’s why he’s so sensitive and he has half a mind to make fun of Seokjin for the hardness between his legs, except Yoongi is just as hard.

 

“You know I’ve always got you.” Yoongi whispers, and he wants to laugh at the irony of it because _he_ ’s always there for Seokjin. Creeping in the shadows, yes, but still there. Protecting, while the real Kim Namjoon courts his fiancée. But Soekjin says _I know_ and Yoongi doesn’t want to think about the fucked up situation he’s found himself in. He doesn’t take Seokjin’s shirt off, but Seokjin’s sweats come off easily and his boxers go just as fast. Seokjin tugs off his own shorts and boxers and there’s just something about Seokjin under him, ears as bright as a tomato and thighs flushed with arousal and makes his throat clench. “I love you, Seokjin,” he whispers.

 

Seokjin looks at him, blinking in surprise, but his face melts into longing. “I love you, too, Namjoon.” He whispers, and Yoongi presses a kiss into the inside of Seokjin’s knee to try to ignore the pang in his chest. “I don’t – have lube or condoms anywhere.”

 

“I have a condom but no lube,” Yoongi mumbles. He can materialize both in their dream, but it’s not weird for a guy to be carrying around a condom but kind of strange to always have lube handy. “This’ll do.” He reaches above Seokjin’s head at the couchside table to pluck the hand lotion there. The reach effectively pushes him between Seokjin’s legs and Seokjin blushes, flustered hard enough not to realize he doesn’t really have a couchside table that he keeps hand lotion on. Yoongi carefully adjusts Seokjin. He’s not so sure about doing this on the couch, but he’s scared trying to move them to the bed will break the dream. He pushes the leg that’s on the outside of the couch up onto his shoulder and wraps the other leg around his waist. “You ready?”

  
Seokjin covers his face with his hands but nods, so Yoongi squeezes the lotion onto his hands, warming it well before pushing a finger into Seokjin. Seokjin sighs and shudders but doesn’t tense, so he carefully prods until Seokjin’s loose enough for a second. Seokjin doesn’t react much at the second other, but it’s tighter than Yoongi’d like, so he puts the lotion aside for a bit. “It doesn’t hurt,” Seokjin whispers.

 

“I know, but I want to be careful.” Yoongi presses a kiss onto Seokjin’s lips and Seokjin wraps his arms around Yoongi’s shoulders. Yoongi doesn’t do anything but push his fingers in and out slowly. Once that’s easy enough he carefully presses against the walls with the pads of his fingers, rubbing gently at Seokjin’s prostate and making Seokjin shudder and whimper until he can scissor in and out. Seokjin’s leaking and Yoongi raises his other hand to wipe the dribble of precum off the head of Seokjin’s cock, and Seokjin keens. “Do you want it fast or slow?”

 

“Slow, _please_.”

 

Yoongi smiles at Seokjin’s shoulder and reaches back for the bottle. He warms it in his palms before squeezing more onto his hands. Seokjin tenses a little at the third finger but doesn’t look uncomfortable, so he works just as slowly as he did with the first two. “I think I could make you come just like this,” Yoongi whispers into Seokjin’s cheek, and Seokjin smacks his shoulder. “Maybe next time.”

 

“Next time,” Seokjin agrees in a breathy whisper, and Yoongi chuckles.

 

“Does it feel good?”

 

Seokjin nods against his shoulder, and Yoongi smiles against Seokjin’s. He wants to look at Seokjin and memorize all the faces he makes when he’s being worked open like this, but he gets Seokjin’s embarrassed. He’s content with having Seokjin make little whimpering noises against his shoulder and nibble the skin there desperately when Yoongi teases too much. “But – but what about you?” Seokjin whispers. “It can’t be good for you.”

 

Yoongi presses their foreheads together. “This is good for me too.” He’s about to burst. Seokjin’s breathy gasps and the way he twitches under him and tightens around his fingers is more arousing than anyone else Yoongi’s ever had sex with, and he’s fighting _not_ to be a little teenager and come by rubbing himself on Seokjin’s thigh. He wraps his arm around to carefully take Seokjin’s cock in his hand and Seokjin’s torso bucks against his. Yoongi keeps his fingers steadily padding on Seokjin’s prostate while he carefully strokes Seokjin’s cock, squeezing the head lightly on his stroke up and letting his fist loose when he strokes down. Seokjin doesn’t take long to come and when he does he bites into Yoongi’s shoulder, a long whine in his throat that gets muffled by Yoongi’s shoulder and shirt. Yoongi catches the release in his fist and wipes it on his own pants before sliding his fingers out. “Can I?”

 

“Yes, _yes_.” Seokjin’s almost sobbing, body trembling from his orgasm. He tries and fails to wraps his arms around Yoongi again and Yoongi takes his hand instead, linking their fingers together and leading Seokjin’s hand to his waist.

 

“It won’t hurt. Probably burn a little, but it won’t hurt. Still, stop me if you don’t like it, okay?”

 

Seokjin sniffles loudly and nods, but when Yoongi pushes in, he doesn’t make a move to stop him. His breath hitches and Yoongi kisses him softly, nibbling on the plush bottom lip as he keeps his pace slow. He bottoms out and Seokjin’s face twists but he doesn’t look like he’s in pain. “Namjoon, don’t go too fast, okay?”

 

Yoongi nods and wonders if Seokjin knows how much _he_ wants this to last, as well. He presses his lips against Seokjin’s again because he doesn’t want to hear Seokjin call Kim Namjoon’s name, and he swallows all of Seokjin’s desperate moans. He takes Seokjin’s cock and strokes in tandem with his own thrusts. Seokjin’s tight and hot around him, walls quivering every time Yoongi thrusts in, and Yoongi half wishes he’d drawn one out of him before he decided to fuck Seokjin because at this rate he’s not going to last long.

 

He grips Seokjin’s cock just a little tighter and strokes a little harder, thumb digging into the slit and carefully angling his hips to rub against Seokjin’s prostate. Seokjin breaks the kiss, too caught up in all the sensations to do much but gasp against Yoongi’s shoulder, and Yoongi feels him tighten impressively as he comes, shout caught in his throat.

 

Yoongi fucks him slowly through it and speeds up his pace again once Seokjin’s a little more coherent. “Sorry,” he whispers, gasping. “I know you’re sensitive right now.”

 

Seokjin shakes his head wordlessly and just hugs him tighter. Yoongi kisses him when his own climax overtakes him and he grips hard into Seokjin’s hips. Their kiss afterward is slow and almost lazy, and Seokjin sighs when Yoongi carefully pulls out of him. “Shouldn’t have come inside,” Yoongi mumbles. “Also I forgot to use a condom.” Not that it’ll matter, Yoongi thinks, not when this is all a dream, but still.

 

“It’s okay,” Seokjin breathes. He’s falling asleep and Yoongi presses his lips against Seokjin’s forehead. “Was that good for you?” He falls asleep before he can hear Yoongi’s answer and Yoongi watches Seokjin sleep for a bit before carefully standing. He carefully cleans Seokjin even though his brain reminds him it’s unnecessary – the next time Seokjin wakes up, it’ll probably be him _actually_ waking up. He dresses Seokjin again and pulls a fleece over him before bending to press his lips against Seokjin’s forehead once again.

 

“It was better than anything I’ve felt in a long, long while,” he tells Seokjin. He brushes Seokjin’s bangs from his face and runs his thumb lightly along Seokjin’s jaw before sighing and watching the dream dissipate.


	4. Chapter 4

Yoongi has had sex in the dreams, but he’d never woken up to wet pants. Feeling fairly dumb, he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before yanking the IV line out of his arm. He carefully slid the line from Seokjin’s arm and quickly made his way out of Seokjin’s place and back to his own place. “Fucking stupid, Min Yoongi,” he grumbled, kicking his pants and boxers off and dumping them in the bathtub.

 

He turned the shower to as cold as it could go and sat beneath the spray, shirt and all. He felt like shit, and the worst was that he didn’t regret it. Or rather, he _did_ regret it – but he had no plans of stopping.

 

He went back to Seokjin every night. The sex wasn’t every night, but every night he did find himself snuggled up into Seokjin in bed, letting him play with his ring. Yoongi wasn’t really worried about it – the uniqueness came in the weight, not the scratches or the engravings or the color, and Seokjin couldn’t get that in dreams.

 

But Yoongi knew it had to come to an end, and soon. He’d been careless before and not keeping track of Chrono, but he’d been keeping a close eye after the first incident. They were getting increasingly frustrated with their lack of progress on Seokjin and Yoongi knew it was only going to be a matter of time until they just decided to off him.

 

He returned to his corner in Seokjin’s café and ordered with a hat pressed down to his eyes and a mask covering his face – the dress wasn’t unusual; it was winter and maybe half the men on the streets were dressed the same. He settled and watched Seokjin flit about the register and the machines and realized there was a distinct lack of Kim Namjoon.

 

He rolled the ring on his finger, feeling the distinct weight as it moved, and carefully opened the book that he wasn’t planning to read.

 

He stayed well until everyone else had left, when the night was striking midnight and Seokjin was finishing up his shift. He knew Seokjin had been fidgety about him – he kept glancing over to see if he’d have to kick Yoongi out or if Yoongi would leave by himself. Finally, at 12:15 when Yoongi made no move, Seokjin wandered over to him.

 

“Sir, we’ve, uh, closed, so-“

 

Yoongi grabbed Seokjin’s hand and slipped his ring off into Seokjin’s palm. Seokjin frowned but Yoongi saw the confusion change to shock. Yoongi was certain Seokjin would recognize the ring, with all the time he spent in the dreams studying it. The weight would be new, certainly, and Yoongi knew it was a risk letting someone else touch his totem. Seokjin could easily hand his totem over to someone else, and Yoongi would forever live in doubt of if his life was a dream or reality.

 

But he knew Seokjin wouldn’t. He’d spent so much time with Seokjin in dreams, and dreams tended to be more honest than real life. He knew Seokjin, and he knew for a fact that Seokjin would not. He stood and found he couldn’t look into Seokjin’s eyes. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I hope you’ll forgive me.”

 

\--

 

He’d left his book on the title, folded carefully with address in the note. Seokjin would come. He wasn’t sure if Seokjin could ever forgive him, but Seokjin would come. He’d want answers. Yoongi wasn’t sure if he’d have those answers for him, but Seokjin could come. That much was certain.

 

He no longer stayed across the street from Seokjin’s apartment, and he didn’t follow Seokjin under the excuse of protecting him. He trailed Chrono instead and made sure nothing drastic was happening. Seokjin would need time. But he would come, and until then, Yoongi was going to give him space.

 

He counted 13 days before Seokjin showed up at the warehouse he’d holed up in. “Hey,” Yoongi greeted, and Seokjin looked like he didn’t know what face to make. “Come in.” He punched in the security code for the warehouse it slowly unfolded in front of them. Seokjin didn’t looked awed, or even worried, or angry, which was concerning. He looked…

 

Sad.

 

Seokjin looked sad. That was not the emotion Yoongi had been prepared for.

 

Yoongi watched the taller man make his way around the warehouse – it was stuff on Chrono and how Yoongi was keeping track of each assassin Chrono had ever hired in the past, as well as the foot traffic going in and out of Seokjin’s dreams. Seokjin lingered for a bit at the file on himself and Yoongi wondered if he should’ve just hidden it even if Seokjin knew.

 

“You know,” Seokjin said softly, after a long silence, “I guess this has never happened to you, but sometimes, you fall asleep in dreams, and your Forge goes down.” Yoongi froze. He couldn’t find his voice, and Seokjin wasn’t looking at him, either. “But even before that, I knew something was wrong. I’ve known Namjoon for a long, long time. Sometimes was off.” There was a sad smile on Seokjin’s face, but he was talking to the file on himself, not at Yoongi. “My brother always told me that my biggest strength was in people underestimating me.” Seokjin finally looked up at Yoongi. “I don’t look like much of a threat.”

 

Yoongi shut his eyes. “How long have you known?”

 

“Before we started having sex.” Seokjin whispered. “Oh. I wanted to tell you not to beat yourself over that. I knew who I was giving consent to.”

 

Yoongi laughed, but it was forced. “It’s very like you to worry about something like that.”

 

Seokjin paused. “It’s strange that you know everything about me but I know nothing about you. Not even your name.”

 

“It’s Min Yoongi.”

 

“Min Yoongi.” Seokjin repeated, and Yoongi liked the way Seokjin said it. His name had always sounded so cold, but the way Seokjin said it made it sound warm. “I like that name.”

 

Yoongi rubbed his hands together. “Thanks, my parents gave it to me.” Seokjin giggled a little. “I don’t know everything about you. I never would have imagined that you knew. Or that you’d be able to hide it so well.” Silence stretched over them again, thick and uncomfortable, and Yoongi spoke up again. “We have to get out of here. I’ve created a fake passport for you to use. You don’t have to come with me, of course, just. You’d be safer with me. People are after you.”

 

Seokjin said nothing for a bit. “I need to know the full story.” He whispered. “Why you would do all this.”

 

Yoongi paused and stared at the floor. His totem had been his anchor and he felt uneasy without it. “Chrono hired me to extract information about what Jin Hyosang gave you. I Forged your love interest, knowing it would cause you only pain afterward. During the process, as cliché as it is, I..” He paused and frowned at the floor. “I fell in love with you. I realized that if I gave Chrono all you had, there was a very high possibility that they would come kill you. I lied to them and have been trying to protect you, but… I couldn’t stay away. I just-“

 

“I know.” Seokjin sighed. “I know only too well how you felt, because, well.” Seokjin took his hands from his pockets. “Because of Namjoon.” He carefully placed the ring on the table. “Woojin told me a lot of about dreams. He took me often into them and told me about how it worked, and how to hide things. But he always told me that while it was easy to hide what you knew, it was almost impossible to hide what you were in a dream. It’d always slip out, no matter what. And those are the pieces of you I saw while you were Forging Namjoon. You were kind. You genuinely cared. And you trusted me. I knew that when I saw your Forge drop, and I know that even more now that you’ve given me your totem.” Seokjin sucked in a breath. “But I don’t trust you.”

 

Yoongi nodded. “I’d be worried if you did.”

 

Seokjin smiled, and it was sad again. “But I’ll come with you.”

 

\--

 

They said nothing to each other on the plane, or even when they got off the cab at one of Yoongi’s many houses – this one in rural Italy. “Big,” Seokjin said, finally, looking around at the gigantic mansion.

 

“I chose a big one on purpose. So you wouldn’t have to run into me if you didn’t want to.”

 

Seokjin said nothing and just dragged his suitcases behind him. He hadn’t brought much even when Yoongi had offered to fill his own luggage with Seokjin’s things. He’d packed two checked suitcases and a carry on, which was, considering that Seokjin was starting a new life, not many things.

 

Yoongi showed Seokjin to his room. “I bought you some books on learning Italian. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know where we were going earlier. It was on security measures.”

 

“I know.” Seokjin nodded. “Thank you; I appreciate it.” He paused and smiled at Yoongi. It was a little wavering but not insincere. “I mean it, Yoongi. I do appreciate all you’re doing for me. And all you’ve done.”

 

Yoongi only nodded and left Seokjin to look around the room. The house was gigantic for two people, and he’d purposely given Seokjin the main bedroom with the biggest windows. Seokjin would have access to the library, the bathroom, the garden, and even the kitchen, all without having to deal with Yoongi. He bit his lip and turned. “If you need me, I’ll… be in the bedroom on the second floor, on the other side.”

 

“Oh.” Seokjin looked up from examining the bed sheets. He looked a little flustered. “All right. Thank you.”

 

Contrary to what Yoongi had thought, the next morning, he came down into the kitchen with a mind to eat cereal and wondered what Seokjin was having, but he was greeted with the warm smell of coffee and French toast. “Morning,” Seokjin greeted, tilting his head a little. “I don’t know how you take your coffee, but you always got black in the dreams, so..”

 

“Black is perfect. Thank you.” Yoongi took the pot and poured out a cup.

 

“I used the stuff in the pantry. I wasn’t sure if I should, but I didn’t really have anything else to work with and you haven’t told me how I should buy things..”

 

“Oh.” Yoongi winced. He couldn’t believe how stupid he was being with Seokjin. Usually he was so meticulous. “Feel free to use whatever’s in the house; it’s all yours. I set up a bank account under your fake alias here, and you’ve got a card to use, too. But try to use cash as much as you can, unless the amount is ridiculous to use cash for. Just… leave as small as a digital trail as you can.”

 

“Right. But, uhm, how will I get the money? I was thinking of going to find work somewhere.”

 

“No! No, don’t do that.” Yoongi shook his head. “Don’t worry about the money. I, uh.” He winced. “I should apologize for this again, and… I did some digging around while I was at your place. I knew your brother had a stash for himself, and I’ve worked with him before. He wasn’t the type to be completely unprepared for his death. He mentioned all of his accounts were at a safe place, and I realized he meant your place. So I did some digging around and found your brothers’ anonymous accounts. He was a good extractor. There’s quite a bit in there.”

 

Seokjin looked like he didn’t know what to say, but he just smiled. “Right. It’s all right, really.”

 

Seokjin didn’t _look_ like it was all right, but Yoongi didn’t push the subject and instead bit into the French toast Seokjin put on his plate. For as mediocre as Seokjin’s coffee was, his food was surprisingly good and Yoongi found himself finishing his first and slightly hoping for a second. He wasn’t going to push his luck with Seokjin, not on the precarious ground they had now, but as soon as he opened his mouth to offer to do some of the cooking so Seokjin could eat, Seokjin plopped another on his plate and settled next to him with two of his own. “Oh,” Yoongi said, unsure what else to say.

 

“You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” Seokjin wasn’t looking at him and his ears were red. “I just – The table’s so big.”

 

Yoongi shook his head and they sat quietly eating. The breakfast was silent but not as awkward as Yoongi had thought it’d be, and Yoongi did the dishes while Seokjin cleared up. Seokjin busied himself in the next few days getting to know the gigantic house, and, although Yoongi had thought Seokjin would avoid him, didn’t make much of an effort to avoid him. It wasn’t that Seokjin actively sought him out, either, but he saw Seokjin at least once a day. He figured that was a lot more than he could actually ask for.

 

Seokjin started exploring the village afterward, taking the travel handbook that Yoongi had given him. He was smart enough not to attract too much attention, and one day Yoongi came home to see Seokjin had made use of the gardening plots in the yard.

 

That was their daily lives for a while. Sometimes Yoongi went over to the Korean market in the city nearby because Seokjin still ate Korean food every day, but otherwise they kept to their house and the town for months.

 

He was keeping an eye out for all threats, so he wasn’t surprised when he found Taehyung at the breakfast table, Seokjin warily watching him from the kitchen counter. “Hey,” Taehyung grinned. “He wouldn’t feed me. Wanna gimme some food? I told him I wasn’t a bad guy but he wouldn’t believe me.”

 

“I wouldn’t believe you, either,” Yoongi muttered. “It’s fine, Seokjin. He’s… on our side.”

 

“I was the other guy in your head.” Taehyung said, conversationally, and Seokjin frowned. “But hey, I actually bring good news. And good news only, which is rare. Well, at least no bad news.” Yoongi poured him a cup of coffee because Seokjin was making no move to, and Taehyung shrugged. “First good news, is that it’s really, really fortunate that you left when you did. Chrono sent out their men to kill Seokjin two days after you two left.” Yoongi saw Seokjin stiffen. Second good news – they have no idea where you guys are.” Taehyung winked at Seokjin. “We in the Dream business are really good at hiding when we have to. But anyway, here’s the not-bad-but-also-not-good news. Just news. Kim Namjoon misses you. They tried to extract where you went, from Kim Namjoon. But good news is, he has no idea where you went because you didn’t tell him. Because you know, you didn’t know either. That was good. I went into his mind myself to see if I could get hints of where you were, but there weren’t any. So he’s safe.”

 

Seokjin sucked in a breath. “They wouldn’t – they wouldn’t kill him?”

 

“Nah. He doesn’t have information they want. Waste of resources to kill everyone who doesn’t.” Taehyung shrugged. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.” He grinned. “I’ve got a job for you, Yoongi. Both of you.”

 

\--

 

Seokjin left them alone after that, and he didn’t make dinner, either, so Yoongi sucked it up and went over to see Seokjin with Chinese takeout in his hands. He wondered if that was the cheap way out when they were living in Italy with great food surrounding them everywhere, but Chinese takeout was Yoongi’s go-to for everything.

 

He sighed and knocked on Seokjin’s door. It took a moment the door to open but Seokjin didn’t ignore him, which he guessed was a good thing. “Hey,” Yoongi said, and lifted the bag up. “I’ve, uh, got food.”

 

Seokjin chuckled defeatedly. “I’m sorry about dinner. I just.. Felt weird.”

 

“No, it’s okay. I had no idea, either. Taehyung is random sometimes and I don’t know where he even got the idea that you’d want to even partake in the business. Not to mention that you’ve got no training, and just… Sorry. For him. Just let it go.” Yoongi set the takeout on the table and Seokjin nodded. “..You wouldn’t, you know. Want to, though?”

 

Seokjin looked surprised. “Me? I – Like you’ve said I’ve never had any training, or anything.”

 

“No, forget that. Would you want to?”

 

Seokjin paused and shook his head, and Yoongi realized it was more of an _I don’t know_ than a _no_. Still, he got that Seokjin didn’t want to talk about it, so they just ate in silence.

 

 _Cobb’s Ariadne didn’t have any training and she did just fine. Plus, he’s Kim Woojin’s little brother. Stuff like this runs in the blood_.

 

Yoongi left Seokjin to himself for a while after that. Seokjin didn’t make food, and Yoongi wasn’t really a stellar cook to begin with, so he just scrambled eggs in the morning, enough for two, and counted it as a victory when the eggs were eaten by lunch.

 

He was reading up on the files Taehyung had brought when there was a small knock on his door. It could only be Seokjin, so he rushed over to open the door. “Hi.” Seokjin smiled meekly. “Can.. I come in?” Yoongi stepped aside to let him through and Seokjin looked around. “I always had the suspicion you gave me the bigger room.”

 

Yoongi shrugged. “I wanted you to have access to everything you needed without facing me.”

 

Seokjin smiled. “You’re a good man, Yoongi.”

 

Yoongi laughed. “I’m a lot of things, but good isn’t one of them.”

 

“No, I think so. You’ve gone beyond what you needed to do for me. I know you have feelings for me, but still. You’ve put a lot at risk just for me. Thank you. For that. And I just – Thank you for trusting me enough to give me your totem. I wanted to give it back to you. You never took it back from the table I put it on.” Seokjin opened his palm and Yoongi’s totem lay in it. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. I’ve loved Namjoon for a long, long, long time. And I thought that was being happy, you know? Just being with him. And he liked me, too, just not like that, but he cared about me a lot. But I think now, I want to be happy with a person that likes me. I don’t think I can forget Namjoon right away. But you’re a good person, Yoongi. And I… I really am fond of you. I know you from dreams, and I know Woojin said that’s who your true self is, but I’d like to get to know you in real life.”

 

Yoongi looked down at his totem. “I’d like to get to know you in real life, too. And I’d like for us to take the job. You, me, Taehyung. You’d be a good extractor, and this is a pretty easy introduction job. I’ll prepare you for it. I’d like to.”

 

Seokjin beamed at him.

 

\--

 

Taehyung grinned knowingly at them. “ _Now_ we’re starting to look a bit like a team. I can focus on being the architect, Yoongi can be the forger, and we have a proper extractor.”

 

“I don’t know anything about it,” Seokjin blushed.

 

“It’s fine. You’ve got Kim Woojin’s blood. If all else fails, smile and look pretty. It’ll work.” Taehyung shrugged. “You’ve got a totem?”  


Seokjin glanced and Yoongi and nodded, smiling a little. He rubbed the small silver ring on his ring finger and Taehyung started muttering about how unsafe it was to get matching totems, that even couples got different ones, but Yoongi just kicked his shin.

 

He looked back at Seokjin. Seokjin looked amused and he was rubbing absentmindedly at his totem. It reminded him of the dreams, where Yoongi had used the ring to lie to him. Yoongi’d been surprised when Seokjin had suggested the ring as his own totem as well, but Seokjin had reasoned that he already knew the weight, and now it’d be fair because Yoongi would know Seokjin as well.

 

 _Besides_ , he said, a little shyly with his ears dyed a pretty pink, _it’s how this all started._

 


End file.
